Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) technology has achieved wide popularity in recent years, as it provides a way to make very small mechanical structures using conventional batch semiconductor processing techniques. One such device is the MEMS gyro sensor, which is used in a variety of applications.
Alternatively referred to as a “gyrometer,” “yaw rate sensor,” or “angular rate sensor,” a gyro sensor senses angular speed around one or more axes. Thus, unlike accelerometers and other inertial sensors, a gyro sensor detects the rate of charge of a position variable—i.e., angular position. One such sensor, referred to as an “x-axis” gyro, is configured to sense angular rotation about an axis parallel to the gyro substrate due to the influence of a Coriolis acceleration component.
Currently known x-gyro sensors are unsatisfactory in a number of respects. For example, most x-gyro sensors exhibit large quadrature errors because of unwanted communication of the drive signal to the sense signal. That is, most prior art sensors include a single mass that functions as both the sense mass and drive mass, or separate masses that are nonetheless mechanically coupled such that the oscillatory movement of the drive mass effectively “contaminates” the response movement of the sense mass.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved MEMS x-gyro sensors with reduced coupling between the drive mass and the sense mass that would result in a much lower unwanted coupling noise. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.